NAN Archive

Loading

NAN Archive

Tag mortality

Health

Maternal mortality: Bauchi stakeholders advocate improved healthcare

Maternal mortality: Bauchi stakeholders advocate improved healthcare

By Mohammed Ahmed Kaigama
Healthcare
Bauchi, Nov. 6, 2019 (NAN) Stakeholders have called on the Bauchi State Government to improve healthcare services to reduce maternal mortality in the state.
They made the appeal at a multi-stakeholders meeting with the theme “Giving birth in Nigeria: Catalyst, Accountability for Maternal Death in Bauchi’’ on Wednesday.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the collaborative meeting featured brainstorming sessions on quality improvement and discussions on how to build a culture of boosting healthcare system in the state.
Dr Kabo Ibrahim, the state Technical Director, Integrated Health Programme (IPH/USAID), said improving quality is about making healthcare safe, effective, patient-centred, timely, efficient and equitable.
He identified the challenges to include inadequate healthcare financing, lack of strategic plans for health sector development, inefficient resource allocation, poor supply chain infrastructure, and a shortage of skilled healthcare personnel.
Ibrahim noted that the system needed overhaul for the benefit of the people and the dying mothers in the state.
Hajiya Hannatu Abubakar, the Programme Manager, Bauchi State Emergency Maternal and Child Health Intervention Centre (SEMCHIC), called for improved health outcomes that are dependent on the efficient functioning of service components.
She charged the stakeholders to own the entire health system and make it effective in the state.
“The traditional rulers, religious leaders, community leaders, health personnel, government officials, husband and wife, and the media have a great role for making the system work effectively,” Abubakar said.
She however noted that the role of community engagement, patient-centeredness, financing, performance measurement and reporting, capacity building and mentorship, among others, would improve the quality of healthcare delivery.
Dr Robbinson Yusuf, the Chairman, Maternal and Perinatal Death Surveillance Review (MPDSR) in the state, also urged for involvement of relevant stakeholders in all quality improvement efforts and incorporating quality improvement initiatives into every health facility.
He called for multi-stakeholders collaborations to ensure no woman dies while giving birth and increase the level of accountability.
The wife of the state governor, Hajiya Aisha Mohammed, lamented over high maternal mortality rate.
“Very large number of our children die during pregnancy, delivery or before they reach one month; therefore, we need to save more lives urgently,” she said.
Represented by Hajiya Saratu Abdulkadir, the wife of the state Commissioner for Tourism, Mrs Mohammed said that is the more reason the state government declared emergency on maternal and child health in line with national declaration.
She pledged to lead a vigorous campaign for women’s empowerment that would improve their health seeking behaviours, through livelihood skills capacity building, among others.
NAN reports that the meeting was organised by Epi Africare with stakeholders drawn from Civil Society Organisations, government officials, traditional and religious leaders, as well as the media. (NAN)
MAK/MST
Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola

Health

Minister proposes collaborative initiative to reduce maternal, child mortality

Minister proposes collaborative initiative to reduce maternal, child mortality

By Talatu Maiwada
Healthcare
Abuja, Sept. 6, 2019 (NAN) The Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Pauline Tallen, has proposed collaborative initiative and nationwide advocacy with various stakeholders towards reducing maternal and child deaths, and other health related issues.

The minister made the proposal on Friday during a media conference to mark school resumption of children across the country.

Tallen said the ministry intended to undertake national level advocacy meeting and sensitisation programmes with the Minister of Health and other relevant stakeholders.

“We will be embarking on advocacy meeting with Executive Governors, Legislators, health policy makers, traditional leaders, Civil Society Organisations on reduction of maternal and child mortality, breast feeding, girl child education.

“Others include all forms of violence against children such as ending child marriage, drug addiction, rape and online sexual exploitation, among others.

“The ministry also intends to mobilise communities to promote routine immunisation and advocacy activities aimed at educating and sensitising mothers and caregivers on boosting nutritional status of children,” Tallen said.

She said children constituted the foundation on which the future of nations were built, as such their early years of life had a profound impact on their future, health, development, learning and wellbeing.

Tallen said education was the major ingredient for self-actualisation and attainment of potentials of any child, saying it is a basic human rights recognised by the Child Rights Act.

She said by the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) of 2011 and 2017 conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics in collaboration with UNICEF and other partners, about 60 per cent of school age children were out of school.

According to her, the North-East with 53.3 per cent holds forth highest number of girls out of school of primary school age, while the South-East had the lowest number of girls out of school at 46.2 per cent.

Also States in the North-East and North-West had female primary net attendances rates of 47.7 and 47.3 per cent, respectively, indicating that half of the girls were not in school.

Tallen stressed that the girl child was often withdrawn from school for early marriage due to economic reasons as well as inability of parents to pay school fees, provide school uniforms, books, sandals and other hidden costs involved in the education of children.

She said the ministry would continue to focus on the girl-child education and mentoring in order to produce intellectuals and a healthy population, adding that collaboration with the Ministry of Education will be robustly strengthen.(NAN)
TIM/AO/MST
Edited by Angela Okisor/Muhammad Suleiman Tola

Health

Exclusive breastfeeding campaign reduces infant mortality in Gombe – Official

Exclusive breastfeeding campaign reduces infant mortality in Gombe – Official
By Peter Uwumarogie
Breastfeeding
Gombe, May 23, 2019 (NAN) Mr Usman Baraya, the Nutrition Officer, Gombe State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, says sensitisation on Exclusive Breast Feeding (EBF) is reducing infant mortality rate in the state.
Baraya told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Gombe that majority of the diseases affecting children in Nigeria were caused by malnutrition.
He said that the agency was using the message of exclusive breastfeeding to reduce infant mortality in the state, adding that the campaign was being conducted in all the 114 wards of the state.
According to him, the level of acceptance by women at the grassroots has been impressive as a result of the successes recorded in that regard as most of the women reached have now adopted EBF.
“ Exclusive breastfeeding is very important in reducing infant mortality and we are using that as a tool to achieve results in Gombe State; exclusive breastfeeding is a way of reducing infant malnutrition in communities.
“As far as infants are not malnourished, certainly the number of deaths will be reduced because malnutrition has been one of the major causes of health issues for infants.
“When a child is well breastfed exclusively, the case of malnutrition is gone and the chances of survival will increase; this is the message we are giving our women in the state.
“As far as we are concerned in the agency, there is no alternative to exclusive breastfeeding within the first six months because breast milk has all the immunities that our infants require to resist illnesses,’’ he said.
The nutrition officer also stressed that aside advocacy, health workers from the agency in partnership with other NGOs had been teaching women across the state on how best to prepare complementary foods.
According to him, after six months of EBF, children can be given complementary diet in its right proportion based on the ages and needs of infants.
According to him, the agency had tackled the challenge of cultural belief through partnership with community heads and other stakeholders.
While appealing to pregnant women to jettison the belief that babies should not be breastfed within the first three days, he recommended that initiation of breastfeeding be done within the first one hour of life.
He advised women on the need to practice EBF for their babies and to also patronise hospital facilities before, during and after childbirth. (NAN)
UP/KOO/MST
Edited by Kevin Okunzuwa/Muhammad Suleiman Tola

Health

FG to conduct survey on causes of under 5 deaths

FG to conduct survey on causes of under 5 deaths

By Chinenye Offor
Mortality
Abuja, May 7, 2019 (NAN) The National Population Commission (NPopC) says it will collaborate with Federal Ministry of Health to implement the 2019 Verbal and Social Autopsy Survey (VASA) for up-to-date information on causes of under five deaths.

Ms Amaka Ezenwa, the Project Director, Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS), told the News Agency of Nigeria on Tuesday in Abuja that VASA is a follow up to the 2018 NDHS, and expected to commence data collection as soon as possible.

Ezenwa, who is also the Deputy Director, Research and Planning at the NPopC, said that VASA was to help in getting the accurate preventive, cultural, behavioural, social and health system to determine neonatal and post neonatal mortality. 

The project director added that the outcome of the survey would assist policy makers in designing and monitoring child health programmes and strategies. 

She explained that the 2019 VASA was facilitated by Social Solution International Inc. through the USAID funded coordinating implementation research to communicate learning and evidence projects.

She further said that strategies put in place for VASA was that the team would revisit the NDHS households where deaths of children from 0-5 years occurred since 2013 is identified.

According to her, the team will only visit the households that consented for the revisit in order to collect information to ascertain the cause of deaths among the under five children. 

The project directornnoted that the National Health Research Ethics Committee (NHREC) had approved the VASA survey, saying that tentative approval from the United Nations is being awaited.

She assured that as soon as the subcontract agreement is endorsed, approval plans for training would commence. (NAN)
CSO/KOLE/MST
Edited by Remi Koleoso/Muhammad Suleiman Tola

General news

Maternal mortality: Medical practitioner calls for training of TBAs

Maternal mortality: Medical practitioner calls for training of TBAs
By Ummul Idris
TBAs
Abuja, Feb. 21, 2019 (NAN) Dr Mercy Luka, a medical practitioner, has called for effective training and proper monitoring of activities of Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) to mitigate cases of maternal and child mortality.
Luka made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja.
She noted that basic capacity building would assist the TBAs handle birth deliveries with minimal complications.
According to her, the TBAs need to be trained on improved hygiene, what need to be done, when to do it and how important the health of the patient is.
She said that knowledge of hygiene was very important because infections were major causes of most child and maternal mortality.
Luka said that the TBAs must also be trained to identify and make early referral of the patients if either complications or problems were ever to arise.
“When TBAs handle birth delivery, they sometime lead to complications such as the death of either the mother or the child.
“The reason is because they either don’t have the right skills or don’t know what need to be done and when to do it,’’ she said.
The medical practitioner said that women who patronised TBAs face higher risk of having complications during delivery.
She noted that most complications which likely arose from such situations usually lead to both child and mother’s death.
“Some TBAs use tools that are not properly sterilised, which in turn causes infections that may lead to problems for the mother, the child or even infertility,” she said.
According to her, expectant mothers at the grassroots prefer TBAs because the Primary Health Centres (PHC) at the communities are not functioning well and lack basic facilities.
She therefore advised pregnant women especially those in the rural areas to try and always visit approved health facilities for the benefit of the child and mother. (NAN)
UMD/KOO/MST
Edited by Kevin Okunzuwa/Muhammad Suleiman Tola

Health

Mrs Buhari reaffirms commitment to reduce maternal, infant mortality

Mrs Buhari reaffirms commitment to reduce maternal, infant mortality
By Ahmed Ubandoma
Commitment
Abuja, Nov. 14, 2018 (NAN) The Wife of the President, Mrs Aisha Buhari, has reaffirmed her commitment and advocacy to reduce the negative effect of maternal and infant mortality in Nigeria.
This is contained in a statement issued by her Director of Information, Mr Suleiman Haruna, on Wednesday in Abuja.
The statement quoted Mrs Buhari, who was represented by wife of former Military Administrator of Katsina State, Mrs Grace Chamah, at a workshop for Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, Child Adolescent Health and Nutrition (RMNCAH+N) in Edo.
She called on the wives of state governors to take advantage of the workshop and impact on the lives of women and children in their respective states.
“As wives of governors and chief advocates for Reproductive Maternal Newborn Child Adolescent Health and Nutrition (RMNCAH+N) in your states, you need to be equipped.
“And better informed about the contextual terrains and workable solutions to problems that have contributed to giving us the poor indices in Nigeria,’’ she said.
Mrs Buhari however charged stakeholders to make concerted effort towards reducing the high rate of mortality among women and children.
She said: “No state is free from maternal and child deaths hence the need for stakeholders to take strategic action to check the menace.’’
She reiterated the commitment of her NGO, Aisha Buhari Foundation and Future Assured Programme, to contribute towards accelerating efforts to address Maternal, New born and Child deaths through advocacy and action.
“One of these actions is the training workshop, which has now been held in all the geopolitical zones of the country.
“This advocacy training holding in Benin City is the last of the trainings held in the six geopolitical zones and I hope that the results will reverberate nationwide,” Mrs Buhari said. (NAN)
AMU/MUYI/MST
Edited by Muhyideen Jimoh/Muhammad Suleiman Tola

Health

Malnutrition, leading cause of death among children – Paediatrician

Malnutrition, leading cause of death among children – Paediatrician
By Ummul Idris
Malnutrition
Abuja, Sept. 21, 2018 (NAN) Dr Anna Shafe, a Paediatrician, has attributed the leading cause of death among children less than three years to malnutrition.
Shafe told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja that half of all deaths in children less than three years had malnutrition as the underlying cause.
According to her, these children will have recovered from common child diseases if they had not been malnourished, but because they are malnourished they die.
She noted that management of severe acute malnutrition focuses mainly on reducing mortality.
She however said that management of moderate acute malnutrition was more focused on preventing mortality by reducing further deterioration of nutritional status.
The paediatrician described malnutrition as multifaceted, adding that it encompasses both over nutrition which is mainly associated with overweight and obesity.
She added that under nutrition, which is another term in malnutrition, referred to multiple conditions including acute and chronic malnutrition and micro nutrient deficiencies.
She noted that chronic malnutrition results from insufficient intake or absorption of essential nutrients over a protracted period.
According to her, the most commonly used indicator of chronic malnutrition is associated with developmental impairments and reduced economic potential later in life.
She said that micro nutrient deficiency was a form of chronic malnutrition that could have marked impacts on health, development and productivity, over the lifespan.
She said that the impacts of chronic malnutrition were particularly pronounced when they occurred in the first years of life, which she said was a period of rapid growth and development.
According to her, acute malnutrition results from sudden reductions in food intake or diet quality and is often combined with pathological causes. (NAN)
UMD/OOA/MST
Edited by Olabisi Akinbode/Muhammad Suleiman Tola

Health

Maternal mortality: Plateau Govt attracts pregnant women with incentives

Maternal mortality: Plateau Govt attracts pregnant women with incentives
By Blessing Odega,
Incentives
Jos, May 22, 2018 (NAN) The Plateau Government has adopted the use of incentives to attract pregnant women to attend antenatal clinic to reduce maternal and infant mortality in the state.
The state Commissioner for Health, Dr Kunden Deyin, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Jos that all expectant mothers who attend antenatal care in the various primary healthcare centres would receive free Long Lasting Insecticide Treated Nets (LLINs).
Deyin explained that the strategy would spur more pregnant women in the state, especially those in rural areas, to seek antennal care.
The commissioner said that antenatal care visits during pregnancy saves the lives of the mother and child.
He added that children that have completed routine immunisation, particularly Penta3, would also collect the LLINs, saying that the act would encourage more parents and guadiants to avail their children and wards for the various immunisation.
According to him, this will also help to reduce to the barest infant and children preventable deaths caused by preventable childhood diseases.
He advised parents and care givers to ensure that all children under five years and pregnant women sleep under the nets at all times to prevent malaria.
Deyin further disclosed that the state government was also revitalising the Drug Efficacy Testing Centre at the Barkin Ladi General Hospital to ensure that the Malaria drugs given out were actually efficient in the treatment of the disease.
He said that the state government has ensured the constant supply of Artesunate injection for the treatment of severe malaria cases in secondary and tertiary health institutions across the state and Rapid Diagnosis Test Kits to further reduce malaria burden. (NAN)
UBO/MST
Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola

Health

Child mortality: UNICEF rates Kebbi high

Child mortality: UNICEF rates Kebbi high
By Shuaibu Tatu
Deaths
Birinin Kebbi, April 26, 2018 (NAN) The United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says Kebbi is among the top 10 states with highest number of under five-year-old children annual mortality rate in Nigeria.

The international agency, led by its Chief of Health, Abuja, Dr Sanjana Bhardwaj, said this during a visit to Gov. Abubakar Bagudu at Government House on Thursday in Birnin Kebbi.

Bhardwaj, who lamented that Nigeria records over one million of under five child deaths, noted that the data indicated that “Kebbi State continues re-occurring among five top states with highest child death rate in Nigeria”.

She informed Bagudu that “there is need to do more on other sectors like good roads, agriculture, infrastructure facilities and education if all efforts on health sector is to yield good results”.

The UNICEF team leader explained that they were in the state to brainstorm on how to rescue the state from the child death rate, stressing that “we are hoping within 90 days, there could be changes on the database “.

Responding, Bagudu assured the team that the state was ready to collaborate with UNICEF on the mission in the state. (NAN)
SZT/AAB/MST
Edited By Adeboye Ajayi/Muhammad Suleiman Tola

Health

Child mortality: Federal, State Govts urged to engage healthcare workers

Child mortality: Federal, State Govts urged to engage healthcare workers
NAN-H-38
Newborns
By Mustapha Sumaila
Abuja, Feb. 21, 2018 (NAN) Dr Mathew Ashikeni, the Acting Executive Secretary, FCT Primary Health Care Development Board, has urged Federal and State Governments to engage massive healthcare workers to reduce child mortality in the country.

Ashikeni gave the advice in Abuja on Wednesday while reacting to a global report released by United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on infant mortality during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
NAN recalls that the report released by UNICEF on Tuesday ranked Nigeria 11th highest on newborn deaths in the world.
But Ashikeni explained that apart from focusing on infrastructural development in the health sector, a lot needs to be done to address manpower shortage in ensuring effective, efficient and functional primary healthcare across the country.
According to him, the federal government needs to strengthen its Midwives Service Scheme Programme where midwives will be deployed to rural communities.
“Constructing PHC facilities without them being functioning will not solve the problems responsible for maternal and infant mortality.
“Availability of skilled and motivated work force is key and important in addressing the challenge of child mortality in the country,” he said.
Ashikeni also advised the federal and state governments to scale up budgetary provisions to address numerous challenges in the health sector.
He said that World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended not less than 15 per cent annual budget should be allocated to healthcare and Nigeria was still far from that.
The board secretary noted that some of the ailments that killed children in the country were preventable.
He added that the infant death in the country was still higher than the global average of 27 per 1,000 live births.
According to him, the Nigeria average stands at 39 per 1,000 live births.
Besides, Ashikeni attributed high child mortality rate to poor hygiene and nutrition which often exposed children to infections. (NAN)
MS/MST
Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola